Karl Rove has said publicly that “gay marriage is the gift that keeps on giving.” The thought being that even couch potato homophobes would put down the Coors and waddle over to the voting booth to vote against gay marriage and while they’re at it, for George Bush. And many thought why oh why couldn't Gavin have waited a few more months before “shoving America's face” in gay wedding photos.
So the "No on Prop 8" campaign made a conscience effort to keep images of gays and lesbians and specifically, gay parents, out of their ad campaigns. Instead, they chose to put up hazy platitudes about constitutional rights. The opposition ads, meanwhile, showed images of "innocent" school children and spoke of them being forced to bear witness to their lesbian teacher’s wedding. The promise of “mandatory gay acceptance,” forced gay education in the schools and Gavin’s notorious smirky “Whether You Like it or Not” made for a Mormon-backed ad campaign that mongered fear like nobody’s business.
The California state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments as to the legality of Proposition 8 on March 5, with a decision expected within 90 days. You can tune in to the California Channel to watch live coverage of the proceedings. Or, if you’d rather get right down to the real nitty gritty heart and soul of the matter, The Courage Campaign, a progressive online network, just released a super video called "Fidelity" that promises to break your heart. Gay couples, their friends, their children and their parents by were asked to submit photos and video of themselves holding a signs that read “please don’t divorce us” (please don’t divorce my dads, please don’t divorce my co-workers). The video features Regina Spektor’s song “Fidelity” and puts a friendly face to those 18,000 couples whose families Ken Starr and the conservative bigots seek to bust up. It's really hard to imagine how anyone could watch this parade of loving families and friends and not support them. Its hard to watch the video and not get that – as the college feminists say – the personal is really, really political.
Watch the video here:
"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.
